


Still alive

by Sweety_Mutant



Series: What if? The Great Escape [6]
Category: The Great Escape (1963)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Movie Spoilers, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-03-02 22:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2828342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweety_Mutant/pseuds/Sweety_Mutant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Hilts managed to jump that frontier?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still alive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nkrockz23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nkrockz23/gifts).



> Disclaimer: They're not mine ^^ just making fun and putting them back where they belong when I'm finished.
> 
> * A commission for nkrockz23, who asked me to do a fic where Hilts succeeds in the motorcycle jump and escapes, but with the tunnel canon.
> 
> *contain spoilers
> 
> * Please forgive me for any mistakes I'm not a native English speaker.
> 
> *actually, this one is less of a "event # changes, so other events change" but more of a "# happened, and here is the thought of the person who lived it/made it"

 

 

 

I never believed in God. Or luck. Or anything. So why am I repeating some religious mantra in my head? Why am I trembling like never before?

Maybe it's because of the tension… Of all these men hunched up on the bunk beds, awaiting their turn… Thinking of turns, they said they'd give me a front place in the tunnel, not that I'd be the one opening it! Well, if a bullet's awaiting us at the end, guess it's for my head… what a privilege!

Yeah, goodbye and good luck to you all… Hey! That's funny, I didn't remember the tunnel to be this narrow … 'Tis not like I've been down here that many times… Not like that brooding Pole and his blonde Siamese… 'm all dirty now, for a change. I hope it's the last time I have to crawl like this in a rat hole, or I might become claustrophobic. Ah, the end, at least.

For a second, I think that Roger and Mac, all beautiful in their suits and confined in the tunnel make a funny sight. Yet, our dear leader's glare brings me back to reality. It's all about the plan, goodbyes, what I have to do… I don't know if I should have tried to get to know them better… Let's say not. It'll make mourning them easier, once they get killed for their foolish plans. Thrilling plans. Brilliant plans…

Digging the last centimeters is easy. Much easier than accepting that we're… in the open. That's what I call a fail. Well… It was going too perfectly 'til now. Something just had to come in our way. Yet it hurts. How am going to tell them? With blunt honesty, like always? Guess they'll not take it very well, but what can I do about it?

They didn't take it well. But, since Roger vetoed going back, we -I- had to find something else. The rope signal is ingenious, and I watch them leave one by one. As long as the guard is not watching… He's gonna notice. Not now. Not now… he passed us by. Tug. Go out guys.

I don't count them as they flee into the woods. Some speak to me, some don't even look at me. I don't really care. My eyes are fixed on the guard as he get closer and closer to the opening. My poor nerves are a wreck now. I try to blend myself in the dark, praying even harder than before –these bloody Germans are going to be the end of my atheism- I hear strange sounds. Hope it's not some idiot who's going to blow it all up. Screams now… It takes me half a second to go on autopilot, screaming to get attention, running as fast as I can in the woods, the shots too loud behind me. Why did it have to end like this?

I stop running when I don't hear them anymore. Not safe! Screams my mind. But better than being in the cooler. Out there is not safe, but feels so good. I look at the sky. Too bad I broke my watch. It's something o' clock in the night, and I follow my makeshift compass, walking past asleep towns and railways as I walk west. I've not been that far away since I've tried to escape… maybe this time it'll all pay. I want to succeed.

Thoughts of the others take over my brain as I walk. How many escaped? Fifty? Sixty? Did they shot the ones still in the tunnel?

At last Bartlett didn't see that. I wonder if he'll live long enough to learn it… Better not think about it now. He must be halfway across Germany in a cozy train, and I still need to find a vehicle if I want to cross the border before… No, I must stay focused. Thinking of them catching me won't help.

As I walk along country roads, I begin to think of a plan. A plan with two wheels and a motor… I tie a wire across the road, and wait for the perfect prey… This one would be perfect… His fall must have been painful. But the motorcycle still works… and his uniform fits me quite well. Now, I feel the freedom. The road under me… I could almost forget that I'm still in Germany. The next village, with its roadblocks and soldier reminds me of it soon enough. It takes me one second to regret my inability to speak German. And one more to take my bike to full speed.

They are now chasing me. I hear them, see them everywhere… I'm so close to the border… I must not give way to panic. An adrenaline rush is good, but I need my brain in full working conditions to succeed. And the border is getting closer and closer… I try to trick them to gain a few meters… It's like in the shows, at home… minus the money at the end, and I preferred the audience then. Wow. This fence seemed less high from afar. This is going to be my highest jump. I can do it… Well, I'd better do it. Nobody will believe me at home. I don't look back, push the motor harder, grip the handle exactly right…

They are on me as my bike take off the ground. I can't close my eyes, everything so slow and fast at the same time. Will make it. Will not. Will... oh God! The fall is harder than I thought, but I'm on the other side. Everything is still in slow motion, and I see myself hit the ground before the weight of my bike hits me. It's painful. Burning, screaming painful. The bike is dying, its roaring masking the screams of the Nazis on the other side. I don't hear them but I feel them. Thunder and fire in my legs. Coming from the other side of that fence… They shouldn't do that… 'm on the other side. They can't shoot me… I try to use the bike as a shield, and somehow they grow tired… Maybe they shot me… It hurts so much I don't know. Slowly, realization hits me. I did it. My legs burn. I guess that sound coming from my mouth was laughter. I succeeded… All the noises are mixed in my head, and I can't recognize friends from foes. The sky is tinting itself black, and the voices definitely don't speak English.

As I am lifted from the ground, I dream of blue skies and white blouses, of mountains and the other prisoners. Are they still alive? Am I? Well, I must be… One can't dream if he's dead…

When I wake up, I'm in a hospital. In Switzerland. With the lovely nurses, the smells that make me want to escape all over again and… the pain in my legs. They ask me questions. Don't answer mine. Put me in a chair. Say I'm lucky. Give me coffee and chocolate. I didn't remember how much I loved it. Say they don't have any news from the camp. But that it's okay for me. That once I'm healed, I'll be on my way home.

Healing takes time. I'm stuck at the window, looking Bern live and thinking about the others. Maybe I should have asked them who they were. Where had they traveled… What were their jobs… And why were they so willing to die? 'cause I don't have the answer. That's why I survived. I survived, right? I wasn't willing enough. The days pass. And the streets of Bern look like home one second, and the other I see the enemy everywhere… Each time I wake up, it's the same question. Where am I? Not in the camp anymore, isn't it? So why am I seeing all of you guys?

When I say that to the ladies in white, they say that it's normal. That I need time. To adjust. That it's common to be confused… something about war, trauma and injuries. But they're lovely. So I trust them when they say I'll be home soon. And if they tell me I'm still alive, then I am. I let medicine induced sleep take me with a smile. If I'm still alive, it means I won. And nothing else matters now.

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The end
> 
> I'm not gonna lie, this fic was to write. I always think I'll end up repeating myself, so I take hours and hours and there was a moment when I was like "let them kill him when he is on the other side of the fence" but I went against it, as I found it a too easy/ too blunt way to end the fic. And writing this kind of First Person POV is soooo hard... feel free to leave a review ( constructive criticism is always appreciated) so I have your point of view about the result. So, I hope you all liked it anyway ^^


End file.
